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CADILLAC PAPERS. |
71 |
lish themselves there. Therefore, Monseigneur, we think it would be more
advisable to strengthen the posts we now occupy, than to weaken them by
compelling one tribe to go to another to find what it wants, more especially as
it seems to us dangerous to bring different savage tribes together in one
place, for fear they should not get on well together.
The Onitanous were taken away to the government of Louisiana by the Sr. de Vincennes, who has entirely withdrawn from this government. In order to compel that tribe to go back to the Miamis for what they required, the Sr. de Beauharnois had at first intended not to allow any voyageur to go up in that direction, and his design would have been carried out if he had not been induced to grant that permission to some Frenchmen for taking missionaries to the Tamarois,1 who took a quantity of goods with them which they disposed of in the old post as usual.
The Sr. de Boishebert2 who was urgently asked for as commandant at Detroit, went up there this summer. He does absolutely no trade there, and would not enter into any partnership with anyone. In consideration of the permits that he sells to trade at this post, he has undertaken to bear all the expenses, whether of the almoner, the interpreter, the presents to be made to the savages or the garrison. In this way, Monseigneur, all the voyageurs have been pleased; a greater number of them have gone up this year than usual; hence there will consequently be more goods, and they will be sold cheaper. This is one of the greatest means of attracting the savages there and making the place flourish. The Sr. de Beauharnois will make no change until you order him with your orders, more especially as the Sr. de Boishebert is doing no trading, and that appears to be in accordance with your wishes.
One of the ways to make the post of Detroit
still more flourishing would be to keep up a garrison of fifty or sixty men
there. The commandant would then be in a position to make himself respected by
the French and the savages at that place, and it would form an important post
at the head of the country, which would not fail to make an impression on the
tribes, and would sweep aside the designs of the English. But, as it tends
inevitably to be a source of expense to His Majesty, we cannot think of it
until he has decided upon it, and also as regards Missilimakinac which,
however, would not return the same advantages
______
1An Illinois tribe located near Kaskaskia.
2See Appendix, Vol. 33.
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MICHIGAN PIONEER AND HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS. |
Hocquart has anything to add to the reasons which made them think, last year,
that it was advisable in the interests of the two Colonies that these savages
should be subject to the government of New France, which included- among other
things- [the fact] that that tribe had come to the Sr. de Beauharnois two years
ago on purpose to request this.
The Sr. de Beauharnois had anticipated His Majesty's intentions with regard to the Chicachas,1 against whom he has made the tribes, who are near enough to harrass them, declare war.
The Oniatanous who went there last year, lost two men in the attack which they made upon these savages, and should be in the field to avenge their dead.
The Sr. de Beauharnois wrote, this year, to the commandants with the Illinois at Fort de Chartres2; the Oniatanous, and the Miamis, to induce their savages to attack Chichachas whole they should look upon as the common enemy of all the tribes.
He has likewise had the Hurons of Detroit
sounded by the Sr. de Boishebert; they have raised a war-party to attack what
remains of the Fox Indians, being unwilling that a single one of them should be
left, and they might also turn their arms against the Chicaches. Although the
Sr. de Beauharnois was not informed of His Majesty's wishes as to the course it
was advisable to take to reduce that tribe and obtain peace for those parts, he
considered that one of the necessary means was to create divisions among the
tribes, as he has done. It is certain that the small parties which will from
time to time, fall upon the Chicachas will harrass them greatly, and reduce
them to such a condition as to keep them quiet; in addition to which being
harrassed in another direction by the people under M. Perrier to whom the Sr.
de Beauharnois has sent word of the methods he was employing from this side,
they will be easier to reduce to subjection, and there seems no more suitable
means of compassing it. The plan of making the savages proceed to the attack at
the same time as those M. Perrier sends, would be a good one, if the difficulty
of bringing these tribes together in one and the same place did not prevent it
from being carried out. Another point is that savages do not behave like
disciplined troops; and moreover, if it were possible to chose this method, it
would involve His Majesty in great
_______
1The Choctaw legends say their ancestors came from the far west and located in Mississippi. Here they separated, and the part which went East were known as the Chickasaw nation.- Jes. Rel. Vol. LXVI. p. 343.
2Fort de Chartres, built in 1720 was about sixteen miles N. W. of Kaskaskia, and a mile from the Mississippi.- C. M. B.
108 |
MICHIGAN PIONEER AND HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS. |
BOISHEBERT'S REPORT ON THE INDIAN TROUBLE.
Endorsed-Duplicate. Canada, 24 July, 1733.
|
M. de Beauharnois Extract. |
Monseigneur,
I have received a letter from the Sr. de
Boishebert dated the 13th of June last, who tells me that he has put four
parties in the field to go against the Chicachas; namely, one of fifty-six
Saulteurs1 and Missiagues2 whom he had invited during his
journey round Lake Huron, one of forty-eight Outaouais, another of thirty-six
of the same tribe, and another of ten with six Poutouatamis; that there are two
parties of Hurons ready to start as soon as they receive news from Montreal,
and that he has just learnt from voyageurs who have come from the
Onyatanous that, as soon as the Sr. de Vincennes became aware of my intentions,
he made some Peauguichias go on the war path against the Chicachas, that they
killed several of them and made two prisoners, whom the Sr. de Vincennes is
bringing here. These same voyageurs told him that the Frenchmen who had
been attacked at Ouabache this autumn had had three men killed, and three
others made prisoners; that the Chicachas had kept two of them as hostages, and
sent back the third named Le Breton to the Illinois to ask the French for
peace. The Sr. de Durnand writes me on the 1st of June and tells me the same
thing, with this difference, that he adds that the Chicachas sent the man Le
Breton to the Illinois with a calumet of peace which they had formerly received
from them, and that they ask me for peace by this calumet, and to take pity on
them and grant them their lives, and to grant them permission to make a
settlement at Ouabache. He also sends me word that Le Breton reported that the
Chactas had destroyed a village of the Chicachas and forty Englishmen from the
sea: and that the Chicachas chiefs had severely reprimanded their young men for
having killed French people at Ouabache, as they wished no evil to those of the
governorship of Canada, and because the Frenchmen who were killed did not stand
upon their defence.
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1The Saulteurs were also known as Chippewas or Ojibwas. Charlevoix called them Pauoirigoueiouhak. The name Saulteurs means dwellers at the Sault. Their principal place was 30 leagues from Michilimackinac on Lake Superior. They numbered 30,000 in 1836.
2Missiagues were an Algonquion
tribe living on Lake Huron and forming villages between that lake and Lakes
Erie and Ontario.
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Vol. 11. p. 2004.
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207 |
It is indispensable that they should be assisted, as otherwise they would
settle at the Grand Traverse, where they have already begun to make a few
clearings, a place twenty-five leagues away from here, and therefore
inconvenient for trading.
As they did not like Poutchita8y, L'arbre Croche, nor Pamitabé point, I thought I could not do better than to induce them to settle in lands adjoining their own, which will not remove them more than two leagues from the French fort. I will leave nothing undone, Sir, to get them to comply fully with what you wish them to do. The interests of the service, and my respect for the commands which you lay upon me will make me use every endeavor to succeed according to your wishes.
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I have the honor to be, with very deep respect,
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BEAUHARNOIS REPORT 0N THE INDIAN TRIBES.
Endorsed Canada. The Marquis de Beauharnois. 17th of Sept. 1741 Savages.
Monseigneur,
I saw from the King's memorandum and from your despatch of the 16th of May last, that it was His Majesty's will that I should do myself the honor of reporting to you on the subject of the migration of the Cha8anous to Detroit, and that of the Hurons near to Montreal. I am about to inform you, Monseigneur, of everything that has taken place as to this matter since the spring, and to annex the papers relating to the affair of the Hurons, and the steps I have taken to have them removed from Detroit in accordance with the repeated requests which they have made, and caused to be made, to me to do so.
As regards the Cha8anous, they came down to
Montreal towards the end of August; I spoke to them in public and in private in
my study. They told me their intention and that of all their village, namely,
that they have never thought of going to settle at Detroit because formerly
some of them were burnt there, and they wish to keep away from a land where
their blood has been shed. As I had received information that they desired to
go and light their (camp) fire at the Maskoutins' prairie,
_______________
Vol. 12, p. 2220.
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MICHIGAN PIONEER AND HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS. |
20 leagues from the foot of the Peauguichias, I asked them whether they wished
to make their residence at that place. They assured me that that was the
feeling of the whole village, but that they could not decide anything; that
they will come next spring in large numbers to give me an answer. I left
nothing undone to make them understand that it was my wish that they should
leave La Belle River, because they were in great danger there being upon a war
route; they told me that that was the intention of their chiefs. I gave them a
belt secretly, and forbade them to communicate anything to the man Chartier,
who had not kept faith with me; they promised me that.
I consider, Monseigneur, after I had endeavored to get them to settle at Detroit, that it would be much more advantageous for them to be near the Onyatanous, one of the most turbulent tribes, in order to restrain them, as the Kikapoos and Maskoutins now do, whom I gathered together there. Moreover, if they were at Detroit they would go to La Belle River to hunt, take their furs to Chouéghen, and continue their trade with the English; whereas, being at this place, they would entirely lose their custom of trading with that nation.
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I am with very deep respect.
|
Quebec, the 17th of September, 1741.
INDIANS FROM DETROIT VISIT QUEBEC.
Endorsed Canada. The Marquis de Beauharnois 30th of Septr. 1741. Matters concerning the savages. Extract.
Monseigneur.
I had the honor of sending you word, by the
first ship which left here, that I had received a letter from my nephew, coming
from Detroit; he arrived this morning at four o'clock with three chiefs, one of
each group. They paid their respects to me, with many thanks, and told me that
they would speak with me at an early date. I do not yet know the course they
will adopt, as their warriors had not returned when they left. All that my
nephew could tell me about it, Monseigneur, was
_______________
Vol. 12, p. 2260.
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